Machpela Cave A Second Purchase

"Behold, I am about to die. Bury me in the grave which I purchased for myself in the land of Canaan."

This request made by the Patriarch Yaakov of his son Yosef is mentioned in this week's Torah portion as the appeal that Yosef made to Pharaoh.

The Midrash relates that Yaakov paid his brother Esav for his share of the Machpela Cave with all of the gold and silver that he had amassed during his stay with Lavan.

This marked the second time a purchase was made in regard to this holy site. The Patriarch Avraham purchased the entire cave from the Hittites, and his grandson Yaakov from his own brother in order to enable him to be the last of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs to be interred there.

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